Hi Sean,

Thank you for contacting Mearto with your appraisal inquiry.

Alpha-numeric samplers - often referred to as 'marking' samplers - were a way for young girls in the US and UK to practice their alphabets; additionally, they often incorporated a verse - sometimes from the Bible - showed that they could read.

Some samplers can be traced back to specific schools where girls followed specific patterns and designs; the format of this sampler is fairly common and doesn't suggest a particular teacher or regional influence but is similar to other samplers from the early 19th Century that were made by young girls growing up in New England.

Samplers were worked in cross-stitch in cotton, linen or silk on linen; they were often framed to show off a young woman's accomplishments. Many were ultimately framed with cardboard or wood, which contains chemicals that causes samplers to fade as this one does.

By the alignment of dates, this sampler could have been made by several people, one of which might have been Mary Minerva Cooley, which FamilySearch.org identifies was born on September 21, 1814, in Sunderland, Franklin, Massachusetts, United States, her father, Roswell Cooley, was 27 and her mother, Eunice Cooke, was 22. She married Charles Colton on November 25, 1841, in Sunderland, Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. They were the parents of at least 3 daughters. She lived in West Springfield, Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States in 1850 and Palmer, Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States in 1855. She died on August 13, 1875, in Agawam, Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, at the age of 60, and was buried in Agawam, Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States.

The value in samplers lies in their provenance (if they were worked by a young girl who went on to become a historically important figure), condition (this has suffered from toning and fading) and composition, with ones with many houses, animals, figures, birds, flowers and/or complex phrases being more desirable than those that are simpler and less visually complex.

Prices for samplers have fallen in the past few years and all but the most exceptional ones usually don't sell for more than $200-400.

Based on the photos and information provided, and subject to examination, this is:

An antique American needlework marking sampler
worked by Mary M Cooley in 1825, at the age of 11
Lines of script and block alphabets and numbers, over a four-line phrase (now largely illegible), over an oval cartouche including "Wrought by / Mary M. Cooley / Aged 11 1825", flanked by bushes, birds and a dog, all within a strawberry vine border, framed.
16 by 16 inches
CONDITION: under glass, not examined out of the frame; with fading and toning
PROVENANCE: Inherited
$ 200-400*
*represents a fair-market value for auction purposes; retail or asking price may vary.

Please let us know if you have additional items to appraise, or questions/concerns, and thank you again for using Mearto.
~ Delia